Tag Archives: migrants

Exploitation or empowerment? The maid debate

by on 01. Aug, 2011 in Africa, Aid and development, Australia, Culture, Migration, My life, Photography, Social enterprise

For many years I have deliberated the ethics of hiring someone to clean my house.   With a mother who takes immense pride in her home yet believes it’s a plain waste of money to outsource cleaning, I grew up believing that only the very richest people had cleaners.   My early travels to Asia [...]

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Social business alive and kicking in Melbourne

by on 30. Mar, 2011 in Fashion, Food, Local community, Migration, Refugees, Social enterprise

Recently I have been devoting time to researching and learning about social businesses and social enterprises, which are effectively not-for-profit – or sometimes profit – businesses set up to address a social issue.   One of the pioneers of social business is Professor Muhammad Yunus, who established the Noble Peace prize winning Grameen Bank in [...]

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A little bit of culture comes to Sunshine

by on 19. Mar, 2011 in Culture, Ethnicity, Local community, Migration, My life

Today we visited our local municipality’s annual festival in Sunshine. Apart from all the usual features of a community festival like rides,  music stages, showbags and fast food, the Brimbank Festival includes a vibrant multicultural parade. With 41% of its population born overseas and a significant number of these migrants having recently arrived in Australia, Sunshine is one [...]

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Looking in the mirror at the other

by on 16. Mar, 2011 in Anthropology, Culture, Migration, Multiculturalism, My life, Refugees, Travel

Welcome to my first blog post! This is both exciting and daunting for me all at once. How do I sum up all that has inspired me to ‘put pen to paper’ to discuss this strange planet we occupy and the even stranger human race that is found on it? From as early as I [...]

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